Website Design
Ideas for 2014
As we enter a new year and the
millions of webmasters are looking for new ideas to one up their
completion we find that the customers are less design driven and
more focused on marketing their businesses.
As the competition gets more
fierce between webmasters for accelerated graphics and the newest
browser extremes the market is taking a step backwards from the
webmaster.
It is like businesses are
saying "Hold on one second!". Let us take a breath.
Webmasters are on the fast
track to embrace the newest technology but business owners are
still looking for what those webmasters can bring for the overall
cost of webmaster services.
It is more about
return on investment and less about what webmasters can do with
design elements.
We have already made all the
first impressions and nobody is impressed by a fancy website
anymore. Every company has one and if they don't then they are
not competitive and it is just a matter of time before they break
down and get one or go out of business.
So just having a website does
not impress customers today. Now they are looking at what you
have to say with the space you occupy.
People today are more
sophisticated and look for data, details and information. They
want to see reviews, data sheets and results and not fancy flash
graphics and snazzy web design. Trade in that slideshow for UL
Test data and safety information. Yuck, that sounds boring right?
Not according to consumers doing research on products.
What is not impressing
customers is 5 pictures that change through the different angles
or peel off the page.
Websites are becoming plain
and simple ad webmasters have to start developing content rather
than pointless graphics and gimmicks.
So for the software companies,
this is a relief because the race for better and better graphics
has been a real pain in the ass for software developers trying to
keep up with webmasters that don't understand programming
limitations and operational obstacles.
Finally, the function
of a website is becoming more important than the look of
a website.
The content on a
website more important than the graphics surrounding it.
The extent of the
information more important than having it appear from
hidden div and pop ups,
In many way, the
websites from the last few years are so elevated in the design
area that they began to resemble Hollywood move sets where they
look amazing, but there is nothing behind them at all.
But in 2014 and beyond that is
not working. At least not for the successful businesses online.
The people making money on
their websites are doing it with loads of pages, lots of content
and substance. They have dialed back the graphics, flash and
javascript in exchange for real commerce opportunities.
We watched the heathcare.gov
website crash with just 200 users accessing a website that ran on
an astounding 80 to 100 servers all because the over zealous
webmasters added too much to the pages.
That is pathetic and companies
that operate at high traffic volumes are looking to maximize
efficiency and generate sales with as little expense as possible.
No company wants to spend $20,000,
$40,000+ on extra servers because a webmaster wants to deliver
more content on the pages.
It is like when a new
restaurant first opens and it has 10 tables and is elegant
and spacious, all set up by a professional design team. As
they grow, they add a few more tables, move things closer
together because it improves their bottom line, more
customers equals more money. Eventually people start leaving
because the owner has them packed in like sardines to make as
much money as possible.
Business know that
streamlining websites make them faster, more enjoyable to users
and more productive.
So webmasters are being told
to tone down the new ideas, the heavy use of javascript and the
unnecessary includes. Simple is better, faster and makes more
money in the long run while costing much less.
We have been
approached by larger retailers asking us for help in
streamlining their networks. They want to know how we manage
such high volumes and turn our such reliability with such a
small staff and infrastructure.
Unfortunately, being small, we
can't take on those big retail chains at all. But they do
recognize that we have the right formula and they want it as well.
The real secret is
that we have always kept it simple.
While sites like healthcare.com
deliver over 2000 lines of code, 56 javascript files and 100 css
files on top of image files and internal includes on just one
page! We try to limit our sites to about 10% of that which makes
the sites 90% faster and less network intensive.
Unfortunately webmasters have
made a living by impressing people that didn't have a clue how
websites worked, but now more and more people have an
understanding of the web and they need it for their business.
With big IT budgets, managers are looking to trim costs and save
time on development.
So they ask themselves:
When you ask a webmaster, they
want to use the CPU to process design elements, but when you ask
the business owner, they choose sales over looks.
Since the business owner is
taking more control of designs in 2014 the new trend is less
hours of work for design and more hours on performance, substance
and making money.
Of course the fact that so
many people are accessing websites via wireless devices is also
contributing to sleeker smaller overhead websites as well.
Where webmasters were getting
lazy and using 2-5MB background images as opposed to the old
tiled backgrounds at 2-5KB. They lost site of the fact that not
everyone is on a super high speed broadband connection. But with
wireless, they are now continuously reminded that not every
device is tethered to fiber optic cable.
As the Internet evolves,
business evolve with it and so do the websites on the Internet.
Business owners want one
website that works on cell phones, tablets and Computers and
works well on all of them. And they are getting what they are
asking for.
So if you are building designs
for 2014, keep in mind, simple is better, keep it sleek, slim and
fast.
And remember, business owners
want more for less.
You see Godaddy, Web.com and 1and1.com
offering $2 hosting and free website design deals, people are
expecting lean trim prices.
While no webmaster can work
for free, that marketing it has ruined the market for everyone
and as webmasters we might have to cut design time just to meet
cheap budget expectations of todays online businesses.
Webmasters are also competing
with a world market, so prices have dropped considerably and that
may have some impact on more simplified websites as well. Since
webmasters have to meet lower price threshold to hold onto
existing clients, they are doing less.
But, like it or not, the word
for 2014 is plain and simple!
If you want to compete in a
market that gets more competitive every single day, you have to
trim your design efforts just like business are trimming what the
are willing to pay for and where they want to use those resources.
After all, d they pay a
webmaster $10,000 for a design, or pay them $1,000 for a simple
design and then spend $9,000 on advertising?
Since the $10,000 the business
owner spent on the last design did not pay off, this time they
are changing the formula.
You can blame the cheap
business owner or the webmasters that charged too much. It does
not really matter who is at fault, because that is the trend and
as website hosts, we are just reporting the trends not making
them.
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